Description
Mitre Peak is New Zealand’s most photographed mountain and Milford Sound its most visited scenic waterway — yet the combination of steep granite walls, frequent rainfall, and maritime light produce landscape conditions of extraordinary photographic quality that justify the location’s overexposure. This image was made from a private kayak position in the inner sound at 6:30am before the first tourist vessels departed, when the low cloud still wrapped the upper third of Mitre Peak’s 1,692 metre face and the fjord surface was wind-smooth. The Sutherland Falls tributary waterfall is visible on the right wall, dropping 580 metres from its hanging valley. Shot on a medium format sensor at f/11, the tonal range from the deep shadow of the sheer cliff walls to the overcast sky required careful graduated neutral density filtration to maintain detail at both extremes.
